• Six suicide bombers kill at least two outside spy agency in Kabul

    GRAPHIC WARNING: Contains images which some viewers may find disturbing.

    Musadeq Sadeq / AP

    A victim is transported to a hospital following a militant attack in Kabul, on Jan. 16.

    S. Sabawoon / EPA

    Afghan security officials inspect the scene of a suicide bomb attack that was targeting the office of the Afghan intelligence agency in Kabul on Jan. 16.

    By Mirwais Harooni and Hamid Shalizi, Reuters

    Six suicide bombers launched a coordinated attack on Afghanistan's spy agency in Kabul on Wednesday, killing at least two and wounding 22 others, Afghan officials said.

    The attack started at around noon (0730 GMT) when the first assailant detonated a large car bomb near the entrance to the National Directorate of Security (NDS), the Kabul police chief's office said in a statement.

    Five others strapped with explosives and driving a minivan were shot dead as they tried to enter the NDS compound, it said. Two NDS guards were killed by the first bomber and 22 others wounded, security and health officials said. Continue reading.

    Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images

    An Afghan woman with her child move to safety as security personnel secure the site of a suicide attack near the Afghan intelligence agency headquarters in Kabul on Jan. 16.

    Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images

    A truck driver peers through the broken windshield of his vehicle at the site of a suicide attack near the Afghan intelligence agency headquarters in Kabul on Jan. 16.

    Ahmad Jamshid / AP

    Security men with the Afghan intelligence services talk on their cell phones at the scene of a bombing in Kabul on Jan. 16.

    Slideshow: Afghanistan: Nation at a crossroads

    Aref Karimi / AFP - Getty Images

    More than ten years after the beginning of the war, Afghanistan faces external pressure to reform as well as ongoing internal conflicts.

    Launch slideshow

    Previously on PhotoBlog:

  • Sanaa holds funerals for victims of suicide bombing

    Yemen's Defence Ministry via Reuters

    Soldiers carry coffins during the funeral of dozens of soldiers killed in Monday's suicide bombing in Sanaa on May 24. A man with explosives strapped under his army uniform killed more than 90 people in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Monday when he blew himself up in the midst of a military parade rehearsal, the defence ministry said.

    Funerals were held today for the victims of Monday's suicide bombing in Sanaa, Yemen. The attacks killed more than 90 people at a military parade rehearsal and wounded about 200 others. On Tuesday, the National Day parade was relocated to air force academy under heavy security. Reuters reports:

    Yemeni soldiers marched in a National Day parade on Tuesday as the president watched from behind a bullet-proof glass shield in a show of defiance after a bomber killed more than 90 troops in an attack on the ceremony's rehearsal.

    A somber mood hung over the event, meant to celebrate the 1990 unification of north and south Yemen, but it passed off without any repeat of Monday's bloodshed despite militant threats to carry out more attacks.

    The bombing, one of the deadliest in Yemen in recent years, was a setback in its battle against Islamists linked to al Qaeda and heightened U.S. concerns over a country in the front line of Washington's global war on militants. Continue reading.

    Mohammed Huwais / AFP - Getty Images

    A Yemeni soldiers sits next to the grave of a comrade who was killed in a suicide bombing that targeted soldiers earlier in the week, at a cemetery in Sanaa on May 24. A suicide bomber clad in a soldier's uniform detonated explosives on May 21 as Yemeni troops were rehearsing for a parade scheduled for May 22, killing 96 soldiers and wounding 300 more.

    Yahya Arhab / EPA

    A Yemeni man walks over graves at a cemetery ahead of burying dozens of soldiers who were killed in a suicide bombing in Sana'a, Yemen, on May 24.

    A suicide bomber blew himself up at a military parade rehearsal in Yemen's capital, killing more than 90 soldiers. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.

  • Egypt's military: On alert for New Year's attack on Christians

    By NBC News and msnbc.com staff

    Update at 6:25 p.m. ET: Facebook has apparently taken down the account of at least one group threatening a New Year's attack on Egyptian Christians. An Arab-language Facebook page (not linked to in the story but monitored by msnbc.com reporters) no longer loads.

    Original post: The Egyptian military said Friday that it was increasing security at churches across the country before the anniversary of a deadly New Year's attack on Coptic Christians in Alexandria.

    The heightened state of alert before New Year's celebrations and the Coptic Christmas season came as anonymous threats against the Copts circulated on Facebook.

     One of those on Friday threatened a suicide bombing of an unnamed church in Egypt and said that the church's name would be posted at 11:50 p.m. local time Saturday just before the attack. A spokesman for Facebook said it was aware of the threat "and is investigating it."

    The Alexandria attack occurred just after midnight Jan. 1 as worshippers left a New Year's Mass. More than 20 people were killed, making it the worst violence against the Christian minority in Egypt in a decade.

    The military said that it would work closely with internal security forces, revolutionary youth groups and various political forces inside Egypt to ensure the safety of Christian worshippers across the country.

    In addition to New Year's Eve Masses, Egyptian Copts are preparing for the Orthodox Church's Christmas on Jan. 7. This year's Christmas celebrations and mass at the cathedral in Cairo will be attended by a senior delegation from the Muslim Brotherhood. It's the first time in nearly 30 years that the church has invited the Islamist group -- outlawed during the Mubarak regime -- to attend the Mass and celebrations.

    NBC News correspondent Ayman Mohyeldin reported from Amman, Jordan. NBC's Jacob Keryakes and msnbc.com's Suzanne Choney contributed to this report.